Supporting student reflective practices through modelling-based learning assignments

Reflective practice is becoming a more necessary skill across all disciplines and industry sectors. This study describes the reflective processes capstone engineering students engaged with as part of modelling-based learning assignments over the entire course of a semester. Students answered multiple reflection questions asking them about planning, monitoring, and evaluating their performance during the modelling-based learning exercises. A rubric was used to quantify the student performance on the reflection assignments and clustering analysis to identify and characterise different student groups. Thematic analysis was then performed on students’ reflections within the different clusters to understand the qualitative differences in student reflective practices. Our results uncovered two groups of students with similar patterns in their reflective practices, which we called active and inactive reflectors. The implications of the study include instructional approaches that can give students repeated practice and encourage them to engage in active reflection behaviours.